Does Missouri really have the best offense in the SEC East? Yes. And here's why

The Georgia Bulldogs are (deservedly) getting a lot of attention as the favorites to win the SEC East in 2017, thanks to several returning stars and a favorable schedule.

However, while the Bulldogs and Florida Gators are likely to battle for the division championship, neither of those squads will have the SEC East’s best offense.

That honor will be held by the Missouri Tigers, who had the 13th-best offense in the nation in 2016 (501 yards per game) and have their own group of star players returning to Faurot Field.

Of course, the question will be whether Mizzou can put up enough offense in tough games against Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Auburn and other top foes to be competitive in the division. Even if they don’t, though, and even if they are struggling to qualify for a bowl game, the offense will put up yards and points aplenty.

Here’s a position-by-position look at why the Tigers’ offensive unit will end the 2017 season as the best of the best in the SEC East:

Quarterback

Drew Lock is, based on 2016 statistics, the top returning passer from the SEC East. Last fall, he threw for 3,399 yards and 23 touchdowns to go with only 10 interceptions.

Even though he played in one fewer game than Georgia’s Jacob Eason, he still outperformed the talented freshman by nearly 1,000 yards and seven touchdowns.

South Carolina QB Jake Bentley’s completion percentage was better in his limited action as a freshman, but he took a whopping 24 sacks in seven games.

Mizzou’s fast-paced offense based on quick throws and deep shots definitely helps Lock put up big numbers, but he has the talent to succeed in any system and will likely end the 2017 season with the best statistics of any SEC East quarterback.

Running back

The Tigers don’t have the best backfield in the East — that honor goes to Georgia with Nick Chubb and Sony Michel.

Still, Mizzou’s tandem of Damarea Crockett and Ish Witter (with Nate Strong serving as a capable third wheel) can run with the best of them.

Crockett put up 1,062 yards and 10 touchdowns as a freshman in 2016 even though he didn’t fully learn the offense until midway through the season and was suspended for the Tigers’ finale against Arkansas.

If he can take a step forward as a sophomore, Mizzou will have a rushing attack that will perfectly complement its high-flying passing game.

Receiving corps

J’Mon Moore caught 62 passes and put up 1,012 yards and eight touchdowns last season and is the conference’s leading returning receiver in terms of yardage.

From there, the Tigers need to develop some additional threats, and it would be nice to see massive 6-6, 260-pound TE Kendall Blanton provide more production this fall, but the pieces are there to rival any SEC East squad’s receiving corps.

Having Emanuel Hall healthy on the outside and Blanton providing a big red-zone target will be two keys for Lock and the Tigers, who need to take another step forward in order to battle their way back to bowl eligibility.

Offensive line

Entering the 2016 season, the offensive line was one of Mizzou’s biggest question marks. However, aided by first-year offensive coordinator Josh Heupel’s fast-paced system, the Tigers’ line was one of the most improved units in the country.

As mentioned above, while Bentley was getting sacked 24 times in seven games, Lock was only dropped 13 times in 12 games. Some of that was because of the aforementioned high-flying system, but the Tigers’ running backs also averaged 205.1 rushing yards per game behind the improved line.

The best news for Mizzou is that every significant contributor to the line will return this fall — including LT Tyler Howell, LG Kevin Pendleton and RT Paul Adams, all of whom started all 12 games. Then there are Alec Abeln, Jonah Dubinski, Samson Bailey and Adam Ploudre, who all played a significant amount.

Add in young players who are ready to contribute and JUCO transfer Yasir Durant, and Tigers’ offensive line could be even better in 2017 than it was last year.

Meanwhile, other schools have question marks — most notably at Georgia and South Carolina, both of which allowed their quarterbacks to get hit far too often in 2016.

A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 14 SEC football teams.

Comments

If we can get our OLine together, UGA should have the best offense in the East. If you think back to our 2012 SECCG run, where we were one play from winning the de facto natty, our OLine was again considered a liability, having to replace most of the starters. Just a thought.

I’d say the competition for best offense will be between Gamecocks and Georgia. Georgia wins at RB, but SC isn’t as far behind as some would think with Dowdle, Turner and UNC transfer Ty’son williams being supposedly better than both. I’ll say QB is a push bc Eason will have a better backup option. WR/TE goes to Gamecocks. Samuel is top WR, but Edwards is set to have a big year, and excited about freshmen Ortre and Shi Smith. Hurst is one of the best TEs in the country. I think it’ll come down to who’s OL improves the most, as neither we’re good last year. One wildcard will be how much Muschamp involves Jamyest Williams in the offense. If he’s doing jet seeeps, then may give edge to Gamecocks.

I tend to disagree about the WR/TE observation. Although it’s true that USC has a much more proven WR group, I think that our WRs, although vastly unproven, can make a huge step this year. And yes, USC has one of, if not THE best TE in the SEC, UGA has probably the best combo of depth and talent at TE. Overall a good observation on your part.

As much as the O line hurt, the lack of coaching participation in the last play when Murray wanted to ground the ball cost us one final play. Richt and Bobo were known for horrible or no calls in very tight situations. That was the worst example of all his years at UGA.

Mizzou returns the 13th overall ranked offense in the nation intact – no losses through graduation. It features a 3,400 yard QB and a 1,000 yard running back; two of the best WRs in the SEC; and an O-line ranked sixth in the country for sacks allowed.

To be a truly great offense, you have to have a truly great O-line. Here’s the brutal truth – the Gamecocks don’t.

– Avg. yds/carry = 3.68 … 108th in the country – Sacks allowed = a whopping 41, ranking you 118th in the nation

While four starters return on your O-line, no matter how hard you want it to be so, hamburger isn’t filet mignon.

He is a bad QB who makes bad decisions, can’t read defenses, run through route progressions, or take care of the ball. At this point, he is what he is. Racks up numbers against bad competition, but has a poor completion % against most everyone he plays. 10:10 TD to INT ratio in conference games which are the ones that matter (18:0 in other games). All those yards don’t mean a dang thing when you turn the ball over inside the 30. With the experience he brought into last season, being at 55%, with a terrible TD:INT ratio,and inability to read defenses is a letdown regardless of the number of yards he threw for.

Let’s stop pretending that Mizzou was a juggernaut offense. 10th in the SEC in conference scoring.

And that shifty offensive line wore you down. Your defense isn’t returning to the past levels. Who is even left on your line that is any good? Buckner has been a bust so come with something better than that. Pinkle is gone so there isn’t an automatic regression to the mean and those past defenses.

4 teams in the East return more starters than you, including 3 that beat you.

As long as Lock is throwing fastballs and leading 30 second 3 and outs in games that matter you will continue to struggle in games that matter.

Gamecock in Tx. You need to read the article again. Lock is better than Bentley who may not even survive a complete season because of usc’s awful O-line. Jacob Eason is a very good qb who suffered from the problem as Lock last season: Too many dropped passes from wide open receivers. If either Eason or Lock’s receivers start catching the easy balls, Bentley is an afterthought.

I would disagree with the statement that Lock is better than Bentley. Nothing in the article or your reply provides anything to back up your statement other than that our OL allowed him to get sacked more than others.

Care to dispute anything that I brought forward re: Lock? No, because you can’t. Fact is, Lock had great numbers against your OOC but was a dogshyte QB in SEC games. The USC and MIZ ppg were essentially the same if you look at Bentley’s SEC games even with that bad OL, Bentley had a significantly higher completion % and better TD:INT ratio in SEC games. Limited sample, yes, but enough of a sample to identify that he went through route progressions, took care of the football, was an accurate passer, took what the defense gave him, and showed much more composure than what Lock has been able to demonstrate even with more experience. All Lock brings to the table is a big arm.

Drops happen, we had them too. I have yet to see any stat that shows that MIZ had more drops than other teams. And does Lock play into those drops – he has no touch. It seemed every time I watched your games he was throwing a fastball to a TE that was 5 yards from the LOS.

Tonytiger, please don’t use the article like it’s the Bible, every non-Mizzou fan has shown that they disagree with it. Bentley is the best QB in the SEC East. Maybe not the best arm talent, but he is the best QB.

Mizzou may very well lead the East in offense but the author picking them says more about how unimpressed he is by the other tms than anything else. Frankly, I think conf rankings sb based solely on conf opponents or only power 5 tms. I mean take Mizzou’s gms vs Del St (79pts) and LSU (7pts). Sure, they “averaged” 40pts over 2 gms but thats VERY misleading.

Thanks Nobleman. I hate it when people don’t look at the real situation behind the numbers and I appreciate it when people actually take the time to look at the stats honestly. Like they say “There’s lies, damned lies, and statistics”

I think the best offense in the East debate is very similar to the best team in the East debate. Things are very close. A case can be made for Missouri as their production looks good on paper and they return a ton of starters. Games aren’t played on paper though, and when Missouri played good defenses, their offense was not very effective. Another offseason of these guys being together could change that though. UGA needs their OLine to improve and UF needs better QB play. If either gets the needed improvement, they could have the best offense in the East. SC and Kentucky aren’t far off either. The East should be fun this year.

Well thought out … something to consider. When the defense can’t stop the opposition, it dictates the play of the offense – you’re constantly behind the 8-ball in terms of score, field position, and time of possession. Being a Mizzou partisan, I look to the game against Arkansas vs. the game against LSU. Against the Hogs, we had good balance and the defense showed up … against LSU the game was over right after the words “…home of the brave” floated through the air. Turn any team one-dimensional and your life gets simpler.

My hope here is Mizzou gets the defense we had in 2015 (#6 in the nation) coupled with the offense we had last year. That happens, and yeah, we’ll have the best offense in the SEC East.

Good comments from almost everybody. Here are some factors that haven’t been mentioned. Georgia’s top scorer rushing and receiving I.M. was promoted. South Carolina top two backs were only able to muster 1261 yards combined last year. Of the three O-coordinators who is most likely to have a bigger year if all other factors were the same?, Josh Heupel. And what did the writer leave out ? 1. Dawson Downing 240 lb running back roster addition at Missouri. 2. Missouri returns two big talented tight ends not just one. 3. Missouri’s kicking game will be the most improved in the SEC in 2017. It is the media that thinks Missouri’s offensive improvement is a Lock on Lock. In reality Lock only has to improve a little bit ( fewer interceptions) and (appropriate speed of delivery when interceptions are not the risk). Finally Missouri hired Odom really late and Odom hired some coaches that held back Missouri’s defense. It looks like this got fixed late in the season. So who will have the top attack, it still could be Georgia, South Carolina, Kentucky, or Florida but case for Missouri is even stronger than the story makes.

Heupel’s play calling was part of your problem. Too fast. Your defense was bad but still the quick possessions didn’t help with the time they were in the field.

Our offense was basically non-existent the first 6 weeks, we couldn’t throw the ball and we didnt score at all. We were bad, it’s hard for anyone to run when the defense doesn’t respect the threat of a pass like they did at the beginning of the season against us. Dowdle was hurt and brought on slowly after missing the start of the season. Both him and Crockett will be fun to watch.

That’s where our optimism comes – Bentley was inserted we were able to move the ball a little better, had somewhat of a passing threat, and put points on the board. Still struggled against FL and Clem on offense so this year will be big for us to see Bentley’s progression, but he showed important traits like running through progressions and taking care of the ball.

When we were winning 11 games per year we weren’t scoring 40pts per game, we were running the ball and Not turning it over and had a QB that made good decisions with a good defense behind him. There’s more than one way to get it done, It doesn’t have to be flashy to be effective.

SEC football fans not living in SC, should appreciate your summary, thanks. Clearly Dowdle and everyone who blocked for him were important contest factors in SC v MO 2016. Footballers just have to wait and see whether offense, defense, or balance will win any given contest, non-conf., SEC, or post season. No wonder we love football. On Heupel, there are many important reasons to snap quickly. There are very few reasons to snap slowly. What appears to be part of not winning games is not always so. When a defense is on the field a long time, so is the other teams offense. The question is “which team has the better training to take it for 60 minutes”. Slow play does not always conserve energy or reduce every fitness requirement. Slow and fast play are different problems for different individuals fitness profiles, different position groups, and different scheme assignments. Depth means one thing if it’s used over the course of a season, it means another thing if used in the same four down play-book. Defensive coordinators in the SEC are not saying “I sure hope Heupel goes fast again”, because they know that programs that go fast get better at it every year and stopping it gets harder every year. Fast is also the killer of big. This is why Saban and Bielema politic for slow. South Carolina will be in the hunt for the Division title this year.

@lsumc, I didn’t watch every one of LSU’s games and you clearly didn’t watch more than a couple of Missouri games. Heupel did not snap at the same pace every game or every series. His strategy was highly effective in stopping defensive pass rushes from reading a play-book set and attacking it. His pace strategy was highly effective in giving young inexperienced O-linemen the chance to learn and mature. Nobody is arguing that Missouri scored enough points in the SEC last year but you are not considering all the problems Heupel needed to solve for 2016 and for this coming season. What Heupel does this year will tell us about his long term scheme. Sorry defenses and offenses have exactly the same energy expenditures. Training for every kind of movement pattern and pace is what determines which side will get tired first. Football, even at the D-I level, is far from well coached in training the hearts and lungs. A program could easily specialize in this and over a few years win a national championship with by out training everyone who doesn’t want to train for and against this. That is just one nature of the game among many more of the games’ natures’

Look more to how Mizzou finished than to the averages over the year. Yes, Mizzou played poorly the first half of the conference season. However they picked it up the second half. All of this back and forth about what to factor ignores the improvement as the season went along.